The domaine's flagship dry Vouvray, sourced across Carême's organically farmed plots in Vouvray, Vernou-sur-Brenne and Noizay. This is just gorgeous: a nose of white flowers, tense orchard fruit and citrus zest, with the varieties characteristic freshness giving lift and tension. On the palate, bright acidity wraps around crisp apple and pear fruit, finishing dry, saline and mineral-driven — a wine of real clarity and hard to stop at just one glass; this is serious quality for the money.

What ultimately makes Carême the star of the appellation is his role as its revivalist. He arrived in Vouvray as a first-generation vigneron at a moment when the appellation, in the words of one longtime critic, had "rested on its laurels a little too long," and became the figure most credited with dragging it into serious, 21st-century relevance — doing for Vouvray what François Chidaine did for neighbouring Montlouis. He now teaches at the viticultural lycée in Amboise and has mentored a generation of young Loire producers who followed his lead, cementing his position not just as one of Vouvray's best winemakers, but as the person who proved, wine by wine, exactly how great the appellation could be.

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